USDA proposes tougher ground poultry standards
January 21, 2015 |06:50 PM
The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service today proposed tougher federal standards to reduce salmonella and campylobacter bacteria in ground chicken and turkey products as well as raw chicken breasts, legs and wings.
Development of these new standards is a major step in the FSIS salmonella action plan, launched in December 2013 to reduce salmonella illnesses from meat and poultry product, USDA said in a news release.
“Getting more germs out of the chicken and turkey we eat is an important step in protecting people from foodborne illness,”" said Dr. Robert V. Tauxe, deputy director of the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I look forward to seeing fewer Americans get sick as a result of these proposed changes.”
For chicken parts, ground chicken, and ground turkey, FSIS is proposing a standard designed to achieve at least a 30 percent reduction in illnesses from salmonella. For chicken parts, ground chicken, and ground turkey, FSIS is proposing a standard designed to reduce illness from campylobacter by at least 19 and as much as 37 percent.
FSIS plans to use routine sampling throughout the year rather than infrequently sampling on consecutive days to assess whether establishments’ processes are effectively addressing salmonella and, where applicable, campylobacter on poultry carcasses and products derived from them.
A pathogen reduction performance standard is the measure that FSIS uses to assess the food safety performance of facilities that prepare meat and poultry products.
FSIS implemented performance standards for whole chickens in 1996 but has since learned that salmonella levels increase as chicken is processed into parts.
Breasts, wings and other parts represent 80 percent of the chicken available for Americans to purchase. By creating a standard for chicken parts, and by performing regulatory testing at a point closer to the final product, FSIS said it can greatly reduce consumer exposure to salmonella and campylobacter.
FSIS’s science-based risk assessment estimates that implementation of these standards would lead to the prevention of about 50,000 illnesses a year, USDA said.
FSIS intends to evaluate comments for 60 days and announce final standards and an implementation date this spring. The Federal Register notice is available at the link below.
Rep. Rosa De Lauro, D-Conn., a member of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, said the standards are the first for salmonella and campylobacter for raw poultry parts and are updated for ground poultry.
But she said “voluntary standards are not sufficient to protect American families from two of the most common foodborne pathogens. Time and again we have seen that when we trust industry to police themselves, public health suffers. I fear this time will be no different.”
“The standards themselves are a good first step,” DeLauro said.
“But we must stay vigilant and do everything possible to keep industry moving towards enforceable standards. Once these goals are met, FSIS should revisit the standards immediately, and keep us moving in the direction of safer and more wholesome poultry products. We cannot afford to wait another 20-odd years for another review of these standards. Nothing less than our families' health is at risk.”
▪ USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service — Changes to the Salmonella and Campylobacter VerificationTesting Program
▪ — Public Health Effects of Raw Chicken Parts and Comminuted Chicken and Turkey Performance Standards
Development of these new standards is a major step in the FSIS salmonella action plan, launched in December 2013 to reduce salmonella illnesses from meat and poultry product, USDA said in a news release.
“Getting more germs out of the chicken and turkey we eat is an important step in protecting people from foodborne illness,”" said Dr. Robert V. Tauxe, deputy director of the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I look forward to seeing fewer Americans get sick as a result of these proposed changes.”
For chicken parts, ground chicken, and ground turkey, FSIS is proposing a standard designed to achieve at least a 30 percent reduction in illnesses from salmonella. For chicken parts, ground chicken, and ground turkey, FSIS is proposing a standard designed to reduce illness from campylobacter by at least 19 and as much as 37 percent.
FSIS plans to use routine sampling throughout the year rather than infrequently sampling on consecutive days to assess whether establishments’ processes are effectively addressing salmonella and, where applicable, campylobacter on poultry carcasses and products derived from them.
A pathogen reduction performance standard is the measure that FSIS uses to assess the food safety performance of facilities that prepare meat and poultry products.
FSIS implemented performance standards for whole chickens in 1996 but has since learned that salmonella levels increase as chicken is processed into parts.
Breasts, wings and other parts represent 80 percent of the chicken available for Americans to purchase. By creating a standard for chicken parts, and by performing regulatory testing at a point closer to the final product, FSIS said it can greatly reduce consumer exposure to salmonella and campylobacter.
FSIS’s science-based risk assessment estimates that implementation of these standards would lead to the prevention of about 50,000 illnesses a year, USDA said.
FSIS intends to evaluate comments for 60 days and announce final standards and an implementation date this spring. The Federal Register notice is available at the link below.
Rep. Rosa De Lauro, D-Conn., a member of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, said the standards are the first for salmonella and campylobacter for raw poultry parts and are updated for ground poultry.
But she said “voluntary standards are not sufficient to protect American families from two of the most common foodborne pathogens. Time and again we have seen that when we trust industry to police themselves, public health suffers. I fear this time will be no different.”
“The standards themselves are a good first step,” DeLauro said.
“But we must stay vigilant and do everything possible to keep industry moving towards enforceable standards. Once these goals are met, FSIS should revisit the standards immediately, and keep us moving in the direction of safer and more wholesome poultry products. We cannot afford to wait another 20-odd years for another review of these standards. Nothing less than our families' health is at risk.”
▪ USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service — Changes to the Salmonella and Campylobacter VerificationTesting Program
▪ — Public Health Effects of Raw Chicken Parts and Comminuted Chicken and Turkey Performance Standards
